My friend, Pat Mathews, who worked as a wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Enterprise, spoke with some passion about the emergence of moose in northeast Oregon. The long-legged ungulates likely wandered into Oregon from Washington and Idaho and decided to stay. He thought that perhaps up to 50 moose live in Oregon. Early explorers and naturalists in Oregon don’t mention moose so it is probably a recent migrate to the state and a subspecies (Alces alces shirasi) typically found in Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. Moose are in the cervid family in the order Artiodactyla or even-toed hoofed mammals like deer, caribou and elk, but unlike their cousins, they are generally solitary creatures that inhabit woodlands particularly those with mosaics of aspen, willows and marshes. Moose are an old world animal that likely emigrated 70,000 or so years ago from Eurasia across the Bering land bridge during the late Wisconsinian glaciation stage of the Pleistocene to unglaciated refugia in Alaska and then further into North America during interglacial periods. The earliest known ancestral species for moose is Libralces gallicus, also known as the French Moose, which sounds like a delicious chocolate pudding. The French Moose was enormous with 7 foot long antlers and a massive body. Despite its impressive size the French Moose had a little nose compared with the wonderfully elongated snout of modern moose. My “Wild Mammals of North America” describes the famous moose snout as a “long muzzle with a large and pendulous nose.” Evolution has created a particularly interesting animal in the moose. Their hefty torso rides upon four extraordinarily long-slender legs giving them a slightly disjunct appearance; part long-limbed dancer, part heavy-weight wrestler. Moose are browsers of shrubs and trees, particularly selecting willows in the winter and succulent marsh plants in the summer.
Moose are great swimmers. While living on Mount Desert Island in Maine, I occasionally would take small commuter ferries to offshore islands. The captains of these small boats spoke of seeing moose swimming with their noses poking about the waves in the open ocean between the islands. They also apparently dive under the water to pluck succulent vegetation from the bottom of lakes and ponds. Moose have a long and interesting history with humans. Pleistocene hunters obviously relished the thought of roasting large moose steaks and pursued them with great vigor. As forests were cleared and marshes drained in Europe the moose disappeared from many countries and by the 20th century only a few populations remained in Scandinavia and Russia. Subarctic hunters in North American who consumed mostly animals for food hunted moose whenever and wherever they could find them. They represented an abundant source of meat for northern woodland tribes who hunted the animals with great gustatory interest. Moose provided a dazzling array of fashion options. Native American’s made capes, belts, gloves, dresses, hat sticks, hunting frocks, pants, shirts, tunics, jackets, hats, moccasins, hair roaches, aprons, and a host of other clothing accoutrements from moose hides. Tlingit, Kutchin, Tanaina, Maliseet, and Eastern Abenaki tribes covered wood frame boats with moose hides. Bones were used for knife handles, hide beamers, gaming dice, fishing awls and spears, and conjuring. Moose hooves apparently cured or controlled epilepsy. Moose pelts were part of the Euro-American/Native American fur trade particularly in Canada. Interestingly, despite consuming many different animal species during their journey, the Lewis and Clark expedition did not harvest one moose during the two-years of their travels. Moose were a highly valued hunting animal by Euro-American explorers, fur-traders and settlers for their meat and fur, and developed into a cultural and political icon when Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive political party became popularly known as the Bull Moose Party. Moose horns and heads graced the walls of many a grand hunting lodge hall. Many attempts were made to domesticate moose. Photos from the late 1800s and early 1900s show moose pulling carriages, sleighs, and timber out of forests. Apparently males were somewhat harder to train as working animals particularly because they lost interest in everything but finding females during rutting season.
Moose and wolves have a long evolutionary connection. Both occupy subarctic regions and occur in similar ecosystems. If available, wolves eat lots of moose as demonstrated on Isle Royale, Michigan. Predator (wolves) and prey (moose) dynamics on Isle Royale have been studied since 1958, when David Mech began his classic research on wolf/moose interactions. The site offered a unique example of an ecosystem that contained only one ungulate prey species and one major predator. If there are lots of moose, they are a favored meal for wolves. Adult moose are not easy to kill, so most of the mortality is among calves. During rut, bull moose search miles for females and often signal their interest in finding a mate by display thrashing (brush beating) and hiccupping. They may also clash with bulls of equal rank in ritualistic sparring behaviors that include; a lateral display of antlers, intense periods of eyeballing their opponents, clinching of antlers, and perhaps, ultimately a shoving match with the vanquished bull leaving the field.
I have had two encounters with moose. The first was near Naknek, Alaska and the second in Glacier Bay, Alaska. While hiking one spring evening on hummocky tundra on a bluff overlooking the mouth of the Naknek River, my attention was drawn to a thicket of shrubs at the edge of the bluff. Several willow branches were moving. My first concern was that I would encounter a brown bear hungrily searching for food after a long hibernating winter. I stopped and peered intently into the brush and noticed the silhouette of a large brown snout. It was a moose quietly browsing on the stems of a willow. In the mid-1980s, I sailed up the inter-coastal waterways of Alaska in a 65’ ketch. We spent a few days sailing into Glacier Bay stopping at quiet coves in this scenic Bay. One morning as the sun was rising, I ascended into the cockpit to spend a few meditative moments by myself. I looked across to the shoreline and noticed a moose cow and calf standing in a marsh plucking aquatic vegetation from the bottom of the wetlands. The cow must have caught my odor because she leisurely turned her head and gazed in my direction pausing a moment to think if I was a threat. A few minutes later she guided her calf into a nearby stand of trees.
